SeasonStar - Amsterdam, Netherlands     

Got a room here at the last possible minute after booking a trip that coincided with Queens Day - the busiest weekend of the year. Given that l was relieved not to be sleeping under a bridge, I was probably more forgiving of this quirky hotel than I otherwise might have been. On the plus side the staff are quite friendly and the rooms are pretty clean. The Hotel is handily located for most of the obvious tourist sites and is also close to the railway station. The negatives are essentially down to the archaic dutch architecture that's such a feature of the area. The building is narrow and high which means that the rooms are tiny with little in the way of facilities. No views, not much natural light and quite stuffy. Worst of all, a significant number of the rooms can only be reached by means of staircases that seem to have been designed by MC Escher. The room we stayed in could only be reached on hands and knees - and that was before the consumption of a drop of alcohol! I don't know what the annual casualty rate is but given the condition of many of the late night revellers I observed I assume it's significant. Accomodation in Amsterdam is pretty expensive and this was no exception. The reality is you can expect to pay a lot for not very much. The Season Star was undoubtedly an unforgetable experience but I was very grateful that we were only staying for one night.